Yahoo acquires ad targeting company Interclick for $270 million

Yahoo has acquired data-driven ad company Interclick for $270 million. Interclick specializes in high volume ad targeting and optimization across multiple platforms and is expected to give Yahoo more premium inventory to sell.

Interclick is responsible for two key online data ecosystem tools, Open Segment Manager (OSM) and its Genome Platform. OSM is considered a proprietary data valuation platform, part of a third generation of data targeting platforms. The company’s Genome Platform was launched into beta in July and is described as the first self-service audience recommendation platform. Genome provides advertisers with insight into audience behavior by recommending which campaigns might be the most successful.

Interclick’s technology aside, it’s certainly interesting that Yahoo is making acquisitions at a time when many in the industry see them as a target acquisition for other companies. It’s been known for some time that Yahoo might be for sale if the price were right. Just last month, Microsoft was said to be considering a buyout of Yahoo which was valued around $18 billion. Many at Microsoft feel an acquisition would be a bad idea as Yahoo’s value has remained static for some time and purchasing a more forward-thinking company would be a better move.

In September, Yahoo fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone which led to some choice words for the company from the ousted chief. Bartz was hired in 2009 to replace co-founder Jerry Yang and shifted the company from traditional search results to more personalized content.